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Fears Lurk in a Post-Transition Afghanistan

By Graham Bowley January 25, 2012 12:17 pmJanuary 25, 2012 12:17 pm

Over the mountains from frigid Kabul, Mihtarlam is one place where American-led forces have transferred authority to the Afghans.

Out here in post-transition Afghanistan, among the orange groves, fear lurks. American soldiers are still in position, but the Afghan Army is taking the lead. And Afghan officials – from the provincial governor to the mayor to the police — assert confidently that security is under control.

But not everyone is convinced — and some are really nervous.

“They say the security is going well, but that is not the reality,” said a judge in the provincial court whose name is being withheld because he has received Taliban death threats.

He added, “Whenever I am working on a case and send someone to jail, I am concerned that the family of the criminal will do something to me.”

The judge is a precise, quiet man with a trimmed beard, who was dressed one recent morning in a brown jacket over a neat white tunic.

Like most people in Afghanistan, he said he was anxious about what would happen when the Americans and their allies leave. What will remain of the economy, the security, the civil society constructed so delicately since the Taliban’s ouster?

“I have been threatened by the Taliban on my cellphone,” he said. “They are telling me to quit this job otherwise we will kill you.”

Along with a handful of other civil leaders in Mihtarlam, the capital of Laghman Province, the judge had been invited out to meet visitors from the media to show just what the transition has achieved.

But he is not completely on-message.

“There was a judge three months ago, he was killed by the Taliban,” he said.

The judge has done well in the relative stability of the past 10 years since the Taliban was pushed out. He graduated from Nangarhar University seven years ago, trained in Kabul and went to Wardak Province as a judge before returning to Laghman.

He has five sons and one daughter – and hopes that his sons, at least, will become engineers.

“The biggest thing in my life is that I was assigned to my job and now get a good salary,” he said. “I get a house downtown near the courthouse.

“Our courthouse building is ripped down,” he said. “Four to five judges work in the same room. They promise us they will build us a new courthouse, but it is not built yet.”

But it is the tenuous nature of the security that worries him most.

As he stands outside one of the government buildings, behind him across a plain rear the snowy peaks of mountains. Somewhere beyond is Nuristan and then the Pakistan border – from where, many say, the insurgents stream into the province.

“I don’t stray from the center of town. Other judges have the same problem as me. They are concerned for their kids. Even the prosecutors are concerned.

“The Taliban are calling people who work with the government. The Taliban told me, ‘You are the main person in the court, you are participating in the meetings with the coalition forces.’

“When they called me I went to the N.D.S.,” he said referring to the National Directorate of Security, the intelligence agency. “I gave them the cellphone number and the time of the call, but they were not able to find the person. The Taliban called me four times. I changed my SIM card. The last time they called was four months ago.”

NATO troops will remain in “Enduring Presence Locations” across the province, but most are leaving. They are pretty clear-eyed about the security situation and the incidence of roadside bombs, the Taliban’s weapon of choice. It is safe in a narrow ring around the base and the town, “but if you go north of here you are asking for I.E.D.s, trust me,” complained one soldier.

A big focus now is on economic development and trying to make sure that the economy can stand alone when the international forces leave.

The United States has poured $5 million into the province over the last two years, eradicating poppy farming and trying to make commercial agriculture work.

But the local Provincial Reconstruction Team, civilians and military personnel who are building roads and schools and helping local government become more effective, is already down to 57 people from 107. When the next team revolves in, there will be about 65 to 68 people, but they will be the last. When they leave, no one will replace them.

In the heart of Mihtarlam, behind the tall walls of the governor’s compound, inside a curtained summerhouse, Governor Mohammad Iqbal Azizi says his local police and army can cope.

“Everything is improving,” he said as he ran a string of wooden beads through his fingers. “Today, the Afghan security forces are very much confident to maintain the security of Mihtarlam.”

Above his grandly turbaned head, a canopy in the colors of the Afghan flag – green, black, red — billowed from the ceiling. He ate raisins from a silver tray.

The governor maintained the people of Laghman Province would not tolerate the Taliban’s return. “The enemy is seriously marginalized. People are fighting against them in this province,” he said. He even stated that the people recently killed two insurgents.

Outside in the bazaar, opinion was divided about what would happen next in Afghanistan.

“When I see the big trucks and guns, we believe the security is good,” said Ningyalia, a money-changer. “If they go, God knows what then. We may face problems in the future.”

But Mirwas, 35, who was selling fabric, was more confident.

“After 10 years, life is going well in our country,” he said. “We want our own Afghan people to bring peace. The international force should leave.”

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